Throughout his life, Simon Wiesenthal was in contact with thousands of individuals, primarily survivors and their families, as well as other witnesses, law enforcement authorities and various Jewish organisations worldwide. His aim was to reconstruct Nazi crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice. The preserved documents also provide a detailed insight into the obstacles encountered in the search for justice in a largely indifferent post-war Europe and the networks and tireless efforts of survivors, non-governmental organisations, lawyers, prosecutors, historians and others to overcome these obstacles. The collection also demonstrates how Wiesenthal, an increasingly well-known public figure worldwide, continuously involved many people—potential witnesses and volunteers—in the daily work of the Jewish Documentation Centre (JDC) to track down former Nazis and their collaborators. In addition, the preserved documents offer insight into the political struggles of various human rights organisations in the second half of the twentieth century, as Wiesenthal served as an advisor or active member of several of these organisations. Cataloguing this material will enable researchers, the media and interested members of the public to access and make use of this unique and still largely unknown collection.

This will draw public attention to a long-neglected facet of remembrance culture at a time when fighting against the erosion of democracy and the trivialisation of authoritarian and fascist tendencies, as well as racism and rising antisemitism, is once again at the forefront. The project advances the cataloguing and preservation of the filed correspondence of Simon Wiesenthal and the BJVN to and from Vienna between 1968 and 1991, making nearly a quarter of a century of this invaluable collection accessible to researchers and the public, particularly the period during which Wiesenthal and the BJVN faced significant resistance in Austria. This part of Wiesenthal’s correspondence focuses on exchange of information concerning Nazi perpetrators and complexes of Nazi crimes. Wiesenthal received information on the names, whereabouts and post-war lives of these individuals from numerous informants from all over the world, which he then passed on to the investigative authorities. Equally important are Wiesenthal’s contacts with, and statements addressed to, political dignitaries in Austria and abroad, particularly in connection with the statute of limitations for Nazi crimes in the early 1960s, as well as regarding antisemitic and revisionist activities.